Shin Megami Tensei: The Reborn World
by ChiggerD
Summary: The old world has been destroyed, and the forces of Law and Chaos have been defeated. 20 years after the world of balance is created, a young demon hunter is about to get caught in a new war. This is her story, recorded through the diary she left behind. A Rewrite of a game I made based off the original Shin Megami Tensei. (Canceled. Find the game on the rpgmaker forums if interest
1. Prologue

Shin Megami Tensei: The Reborn World

 **Authors notes: While this is technically my second fan fiction, this is a rewrite of my very first story that I made as a video game in RPGmaker. I'm doing this because I'm giving up on game making (unless I can make a Splatoon game, which probably won't happen) but I don't want to completely give up on the Characters and story line I created, and I would like to do a squeal at some point. You can find the game in the RPGmaker forums, if you want to give it a try (Same name, just make sure to get the MV version).**

 **I'm also writing a splatoon fan fiction called The Legacy of Humanity. That story is my primary focus, so this one won't be updated as often. While I don't normally care for it, I will be trying out a first person perspective for this story.**

 **This is based off of the original Shin Megami Tensei, and it's squeal SMT2, as it takes place between them. While playing those two games isn't required, it helps to be familiar with the lore of the original series.  
**

 **Shin Megami Tensei and any actual characters or plot elements from the games, are owned by Atlus. I take no credit or profit from their usage. The Kuzunoha members are a Parody of Hidan no Aria (Aria the scarlet ammo). Note that I said PARODY. This is not a crossover of any kind, and they are not the actual characters.**

Prologue:

*Ex-script from the diary of Haruka Rotama, The month of August 2042, Okinawa*

Not very many people are familiar with the hell that took place on Okinawa, or how close Tokyo became to becoming consumed by the actions of a single man. It's been a week, and I still can't believe we survived. It's my hope that this diary will shed some light into the events that transpired, so that people will be ready if something like this ever happens again.

But before I get into that, I should probably introduce myself, and our world. I don't now how far into the future it will be before this journal is discovered. My name is Haruka Rotama, and I'm a 17 year old field medic. I'm part of a trade called the hunters. I have brown hair, and my eyes are a sort of reddish color. I wear a black school girl like uniform, a black headband, and black glasses. Yeah, I like black.

I had been taught by my mother from a very young age to use angelic magic, so I was able to start working years before most magic users are able to have a firm grasp on the craft. I used to be in a hunter clan called the Black Cats, but an.. event caused my to leave along with my two partners, Joshiro Niwa, and Yin Yano. Oh, and our world has magic, angels, and demons.

You see, fifty years ago, our world was destroyed by a nuclear war. This event was called the great destruction, which left billions dead, governments collapsed, and much of our technology and culture lost. The worst part was when the demons came. God decided he could no longer trust is with his world, and Lucifer decided to take advantage of this to launch an invasion of his own. Many unaligned mythical creatures also started showing up all around Japan. Despite this, mankind still fought to keep from going extinct.

It would be another 30 years before something miraculous would happen. Three men and one woman, who appeared to come right of the past, would bring the much needed change our world needed. One of the men, who would just be referred to as 'the hero', ended the fighting between the Messians and Gaians, as well as worked to bring the demon problem under control. He was a master of the Demon summoning program, called the COMP. While his two male companions lost their lives in a dispute, the hero would bring a world of balance to Japan.

Unfortunately, this time of balance and reconstruction would not last very long. It was a mere 17 years before the hero was finally killed by a demon horde, and the last surviving COMP was destroyed. We tried to find a replacement leader to keep us unified, but nobody could agree on who would take his place. Japan fell into a state of chaos, and the hero's former subordinates became power hungry warlords, and began to fight among themselves.

If yet another war starting wasn't enough, the people of Japan had neglected to consider one thing. What was the state of the rest of the world in? Well, Europe hadn't been hit nearly as hard as Japan and the American continent had been. They had reunified into an organization known as the European Federation. The eastern territories of Russia and China, became the New Soviet Union. Taking advantage of our weakness, the Federation launched an invasion of Japan, while the Soviets attacked the island territories, including Okinawa.

Seeing an opportunity, the Federation offered the warlords power and some autonomy, in exchange for helping them kick the NSU out of Japan. In just one month, the European Federation had total control of our homeland. It has now been 3 years since their conquest.

With the majority of their troops fighting the NSU in Europe, the Federation tasked the warlords with keeping the demons and general population under control. The lords in turn, created armed mercenary groups to do the work for them. These were called hunter clans. They were also tasked with recovering pre-destruction artifacts, and technology. As I said before, I my self was a clan hunter until I went freelance a few months ago.

But here is where it really gets strange. Recently, the Federation began hearing these crazy rumors of a demonic artifact that could grant it's user powers that could rival even Lucifer. They tasked the lord of Okinawa, A Lord Takuya Yamato, to find this artifact.

Unconcerned with their demands, he hired a free lance group to gather information, and locate the artifact. This of course, was my group, since we had recently left Tokyo, and relocated to Okinawa. Our search lead us to a small island cave, off the shore of Okinawa. I looked at my two partners, and we entered the cave...

*Diary continues on the first dated entry...*


	2. The Tragedy

Chapter 1 – The Tragedy

*Ex-script from the diary of Haruka Rotama, August 3rd 2042, South Okinawa*

Joshiro, Yin, and my self, descended the rope that lead deeper into the cave.

"Why is it so damn hot down here? Is this hole damn island just a big volcano?" I heard Joshiro say. As our feet touched solid ground again, Yin spoke up next.

"Seriously, If we didn't need the money so bad, I would just bail on this job." Yin was right about this. None of use had a good feeling about this job, but we were very low on macca. Because we were freelance, our choice of jobs were very limited. I took another look around the cave.

"It's hard to believe a place like this exists on this tiny island," I said. Suddenly, I heard voices coming from the other side of the passage. "Hey, you here that? It's coming from over there." We moved to the side of the passage, which ended in a sharp drop. We peered over the edge, to try and pinpoint the voices. Three men and one woman were standing at the bottom.

"Well that was fun," said one of the voices. "Remind me why we are crawling around this awful pit? We all know this thing doesn't exist."

"Maybe because Takuya is paying a lot of macca?" Said another. "We can't afford to be picky about jobs." Sounded to me like they were in the same situation we were, but why had Lord Takuya not mentioned that he had hired other hunters? The first voice spoke up again.

"I've heard that one before, and after that last one, the new guy is dead, and you damn near lost an arm!"

The third man, who was wearing heavy armor, spoke next." "Will you two knock it off? It's bad enough that the demons are trying to kill us, I don't need you two adding to my headaches! Anyway, did you see anything up ahead, Lelu?" I assumed he was addressing the blue haired woman.

"Sorry, Kio. It's a real maze down here. I honestly can't even tell if we are just going in circles," she responded, and Kio sighed.

"Well, that figures. Even if this artifact does exist, It's not going to be found that easy. Come on, Sunanomi, let's move out. You too, Dasu."

"SIR, YES SIR! MOVING OUT, SIR..." Said the younger man in obvious sarcasm, and they left the chamber. I looked over at Joshiro, who seemed to be pondering something.

"Kio and Lelu... Now I remember. Back in Tokyo, there was this big rumor of a Gaian and Messian falling in love with each other. Apparently it caused a big uproar, and they left for Okinawa to get away from being persecuted. I never thought that it was actually real."

"Who the hell cares?" Yin responded. "It's obvious we aren't the only people Takuya hired, and they have a head start on us." Yin looked around, and spotted another rope that we assumed the other group had used to climb down. "I guess we have no choice but to follow their tracks." As we prepared to descend the rope, a groan from the far end of the cave caught our attention. A pair of slimes were moving in our direction.

"Slimes again?" Joshiro whined. "I was hoping for something a little more challenging."

"We can always use the practice," I said. "Joshiro, hit them hard and fast, Yin use your fire rounds. I'll cover you guys!" I drew my handgun from its holster. In the past, I usually stayed behind to concentrate on healing, but I had started to get a taste for combat. Though I didn't use elemental magic to charge my bullets like Yin.

"Here they come!" Yin shouted, and we jumped into action. Joshiro, a heavy armor and spear user, jumped at the nearest slime, and brought his spear down. The slime was knocked back, and I finished it off with a shot from my revolver. With a loud crack, Yin fired a shot from his shotgun, and the other slime burst into flames, due to his elemental rounds.

"Piece of cake." Joshiro said. "Let's seen what's down there." I nodded in response, and we climbed down the second rope. There were a number of different passages at the bottom, and we had trouble find our way around the cave. Several times we had to retrace our steps. This was not fun, due to the fact that the cave was also infested with Onmoroki. They proved to be easy meat for Yin's Ice shots, and Joshiro mostly took a defense stance during engagements.

Eventually, we came to an underground lake. "Man, I'm thirsty!" Joshiro said, and moved to to water's edge.

"Are you seriously going to drink that?" Yin asked. We managed stop him when I noted that the water was likely contaminated. Yin heartlessly told him that it was his own fault, and I gave Joshiro a sip from my canteen.

"The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can get payed and grab dinner," I said. We continued down the tunnels, when Joshiro stopped, and readied his spear.

"Come out of there!" He shouted. I looked over to where he was pointing, and saw a Pixie peaking her head out from around a corner. I always felt guilty about fighting these, though Yin and Joshiro didn't seem to care. Fairy types were usually the least hostile towards humans, and the pixies were just so cute! Hey, I like cute things! Don't judge me!

"M-more humans?" She said, as she flew out to us. "Hey, can you do me a favor? I got lost down here, and now I can't get back to the surface! I'll heal you, if you can get me out of here!" My partners looked at me to say no, but I ignored them and nodded my head. "R-really? Then let's go!" The pixie healed us with Dia magic, and we continued down the tunnels until the sounds of battle could be heard.

"Hey! I think it's those guys from before!" Joshiro said, and we sneaked up behind the other group. Kio and Lelu were fighting with a strange tree like demon, while the blue haired man covered them with a rifle. The young man with brown hair, used a ceremonial dagger, to cast the demonic spell of agi, which surprised me since demonic magic was more difficult to master than angelic.

"You want some more? Here yah go!" Kio yelled and struck the demon with his katana, but the demon didn't falter. "Why won't this thing die?" Joshiro took a step forward, but kicked a rock by accident. The noise caused the other group to whip around. "Who the hell are you!" Kio said. This brief moment of distraction, allowed the demon to counter attack. I watched Kio scream and get knocked back. Lelu let out a screech, and tried to come to his aid.

"Watch out!" Joshiro yelled, and before I could stop him, he rushed to Lelu, and pushed her out of the way. The strike intended for Lelu, hit Joshiro, and cut through is armor.

"Joshiro!" I yelled, and Yin held me back as I tried to run to his side. He collapsed on the ground as blood started to leak from his side. Kio stood back up, and reformed with Lelu.

"You there! Join up with Sunanomi and Dasu! Help us take this thing down, or we're all dead!" We nodded in response, and turned our weapons on the tree like demon. Before we could do anything, we were hit with a blast of mazan force magic. I cast a media to get every one back on their feet, and Kio jumped at the demon. His blade cut through the demon, and it let out a roar.

"Kio! Get out of the way, Man!" Dasu yelled. Yin and Sunanomi had finished preparing their fire shots, and Dasu began to cast another agi. The combined might of the fire shots and and demonic magic finally caused the creature to stagger. The demon cast another blast of mazan, and we were all knocked off our feat. All except Lelu. I aimed my handgun at the demon's face, and squeezed off several shots, as Lelu plunged her blade into the demons backside. The demon gave one final roar, before it collapsed.

"I think we got him," said the blue haired Sunanomi. "Yell if you're dead."

"Yeah, real funny." Kio responded, and turned to my team. "Thank you for the help, little lady. Since you saved our asses, go ahead and see what that thing was guarding." Kio pointed at the space behind where the demon was standing. A very old looking box was wedged into a corner. Dasu immediately objected.

"What? But, Kio-"

"Shut up, Dasu! We wouldn't have survived that if not for them!" Kio yelled. I made my way over to the box, and opened it. Inside was a single old key. I showed what I found to the rest of the group, and Kio looked it over.

"I doubt that's the artifact Takuya wanted, but that key should at least prove that we did the job of investigating this cave. He'll have to pay us something."

"Yeah, well let's get out of here before something else shows up," Yin said. Kio and Lelu lifted up Joshiro's unconscious body.

"He looks pretty beat up," Lelu said. "We need to get him to our doctor. You guys go first, and clear the way." Getting out of that cave was not an easy ordeal. Between the Onmoroki, and having to pull Joshiro up the ropes, it took almost an hour to get back to the surface. I breathed deep when we finally exited the cave.

"Woo! Finally!" Said the pixie, whom I forgot was tailing us. "Thanks, humans! I'll see you around." She flew off towards the town.

"Over there," Kio said, and pointed to a nearby cabin. "Our doctor can take a look at his wounds, while we sort out the artifact issue." We pulled Joshiro into the cabin, and were greeted by the voice of a young Chinese woman.

"Welcome back, guys. Um, who are they?"

"Xia, we got a problem over here!" Lelu said, and Xia walked over. "Oh, that's our doctor, Xia Fong."

"Damn! What happened to him?"

"We had a close encounter with an over sized and pissed off... you know, I don't even know what that was. Do you think you can patch him up?" Kio asked.

"It looks worse than it actually is, but he will be out for a while. Help me get him over to the bed." The guys hauled him to the bed, and Xia started treating Joshiro's wounds. I could have healed him with my angelic magic if I was a master, but since I was a novice, all I could do was watch, and hope Xia knew what she was doing. Kio walked back to the rest of us.

"Now then, let's talk business. I really do appreciate the help, but we can't just hand over the reward for finding that artifact."

"Took the words right outta my mouth," Yin responded.

"Here's what I propose. You two go back to town with Sunanomi and Dasu, and report to Takuya that it was a joint effort. We'll split the macca evenly. In the meantime, we'll get him stable enough that he can be moved back to town."

I thought for a minute, then decided that this was the best way to resolve it. "I will agree to this," I said. Yin did not look happy. Sunanomi responded with "That's fair", and Dasu just said "Whatever".

"When you get back to town, look for our coordinator. He's a European, so he should be easy to find. He should still be at the tavern. Just tell him I sent you, and he'll do the rest."

"Well, we should get going," I said, and we turned to leave.

"Hold on a sec," Kio said, and we turned back to him. "You guys are freelance, right?"

"Yeah, what of it?" Yin responded.

"Well why don't you join our unofficial hunter clan, Red Earth. With you, we would have enough to ask Takuya to grant us official status, and we could use more fighters."

"You won't find a more laid back group," Lelu chimed in. "Kio and I, try to be fair, so you don't have to worry about being pushed around." These two did seam pretty nice for hunters. Especially if what Joshiro said was true about them being Gaian and Messian. I thought for a few minutes, as this would be a life changing decision.

"Would it be okay if we tried it out first?" I finally responded. "Our last hunter clan didn't work out so well, and I'm a little hesitant to do this again." Kio seemed to accept this.

"I suppose that's fair. We can sort that out later, so just tell Connor that you will be joining us, and to ask Takuya to get us registered as real hunters." Sunanomi looked hesitant, and Dasu like he opposed.

"Are you sure we can trust them? I mean, we just met by chance," Sunanomi said.

"We need them. Otherwise we will be stuck with crap jobs like this. Do you really want to go hunting for ghosts in a volcanic cave again? I would say it's in all of our interest, and they don't seem like back stabbers." Kio responded. Sunanomi accepted this, and nodded.

"Then let's go and get our macca. I'm ready to go when you are."

"Great to have you," Lelu said. "We'll have to celebrate tonight, if Takuya agrees." She turned back to Joshiro. "Don't worry about him. If Xia says he will be okay, then he will be okay. We'll meat up at Gushikami inn." Sunanomi, Dasu, Yin, and myself, left the cabin, and made our way back to town.

"Looks like the tide is still low enough that we won't have to swim." Sunanomi turned to me. "It might be a little late, but my name is Sunanomi. That's Daisuke Hiragi, though we just call him Dasu." Dasu just grunted an affirmation. Sunanomi looked European, and wore a blue suit to match his hair, along with some basic body armor. His eyes were a light brown, and had a strange headset, complete with a microphone. Dasu had long brown hair, and wore glasses over his blue eyes. He wore a dark read sweater, and a pair of blue pants.

"Well, nice to meat you, I guess. I'm Haruka Rotama," I responded. I could hear Yin mutter something along the lines of "I still don't think this is a good idea". Ever since we were kick out of our last hunter clan, Yin had really become bitter. I hope this new clan will help him lighten up.

Exiting the tiny island, we made our way back to Gushikami, avoiding the occasional roaming pixie or haqet. The town itself, was rather small and didn't receive much attention from the reconstruction projects. The only real notable location, was a small mansion that Lord Takuya was using as a vacation home. The rest of the town was mostly rubble, and few rebuilt houses and shops. I saw the pixie from earlier fly overhead, much to the dismay of the local population. We headed towards the tavern, to mean up with the Red Earth informant. He was sitting at a table, while staring at some papers. His odd hairstyle and facial complexion was very much European.

"That's Connor Macky, our informant," Sunanomi said, as we pushed passed all the drunks. "He gathers information, and handles job negotiations. He can get get us in to see Takuya."

"And I hope you brought something to show him," Connor said, looking up. "Did you find it?"

"What the hell did you expect?" Dasu snapped. "Do you really think something with the powers of God exists? All we found was some old key."

"That should at least prove we searched the caves," Sunanomi added. "Doubt it will be of any use, but you never know. Either way, he owes us the dispatch fee."

"Okay, so are you going to tell me who they are?" Connor asked.

"Some freelancers that lent us a hand in the caves. Haruka and Yin, and they will be joining us. Oh, and there is another one that was injured. Xia and the boss stayed behind to patch him up, but they wanted you to request official hunter status."

"Then, let's get this over with. I really can't stand Takuya."

*The next few paragraphs are illegible, but they are assumed to detail Connor taking the others to Takuya's mansion. Legible content picks up during negotiations*

"I'm surprised you were able to cover that much ground in so little time," Lord Takuya told us. "I guess Gara's idea of hiring freelances will save us some trouble with the Federation." Lord Takuya, at age 30, was one of the youngest of the hero's ex retainers. Having control of all of Okinawa should speak for his strength. He sat in the middle of the room, while his assistant, Nakaido Gara, stood at his side.

"We took a look at that key you brought us." Gara said, "It may have something to do with that artifact the Federation is so keen on finding. Unfortunately, it's useless as it is, and we have no more leads."

"Assuming it isn't just an old piece of Junk," Takuya added. "Still, I'm sure we can tell the Federation something that will get them off my back for a while. For that, I'll give you your half of the finders fee. The rest goes to the Red Earth group."

"Thank you, sir!" Connor responded, and handed me our half of the macca. Oh, and macca is the currency we use in the new world. "Sir!" Connor spoke up again. "We wish to petition for the right of official hunter status. The freelancers are joining us, and we now fulfill all the requirements of doing so."

"Hmm, you do show some potential," Takuya responded. "But we have no available buildings for you to use as a base of operations."

"Actually, sir. 'THAT' building is still unused. You know, the one Clan Sabre used to use?" Gara said.

"Oh, that's true. Very well, Red Earth. I grant you official status." Takuya handed Connor a packet of papers. "Fill those out, and deliver them to me in Naha. You'll find Sabre's old house just outside the city." With that, we left Takuya's presence.

*Ex-script from the digital log of Takuya Yamato*

They seemed to accept that line we fed them about the artifact, though as Gara told me later, it didn't really matter if they did or not. Just keeping the Federation away was really all we needed. We couldn't waste anymore time on their wild goose chases. Still, it wouldn't work forever. We needed to accelerate our original plans, so we could move against the Federation, and their treacherous warlord dogs. Gara also pointed out that there were still some critical materials we needed, but I think I found a solution to that problem.

*Attached digital log entry ends, and Haruka's account of the day continues*

As we exited Takuya's mansion, we were met with a scream that still haunts me to this day. We looked over, just in time to see Lelu fly into the air, and land in front of us. Her neck was bent in an unnatural way, and she was leaking blood rapidly.

"Lelu! YOU SON OF A-" Horrified, we saw Kio jump at a demon that was attacking the town. It was the same demon that we fought in the caves. I will never know how it managed to survive our first assault. In a blind rage, Kio leaped at the demon. Because of his carelessness, we watched as a stake was driven into his chest. The demon lifted him up, and threw him towards us. He landed with a ground, and tried to sit up, as Sunanomi rushed to his side.

"Kio! What the hell happened? How did that thing follow us?"

"I don't... know but... have to run... too strong. Get Joshiro and Xia... leave me!"

"Too late!" Yin said, and we raised our weapons.

"You lousy bastard!" Dasu yelled and hit the demon with an agi blast, as Sunanomi tried to drag Kio away from the demon. The demon rapidly approached, while Dasu and Yin tried to hold it back as I attended to Kio.

"Damn it! His wounds aren't closing" I yelled. "My angelic magic isn't strong enough!"

"Back us up, you two!" Yin yelled and Sunanomi and I started putting rounds into the demon. Because it was already injured. It didn't take to long to bring it down. Dasu walked over to it's corpse and hit it with a few agi blasts to make sure it was dead this time.

"Did you.. get.. it," Kio asked, as he started breathing his last.

"Y-yeah. We got it, man." Dasu responded.

"Heh, n-nice.. work. Haruka, I.. leave my men... to you. Don't let... it end.. here. Wait for.. me.. L..e..l..u.."

"Kio? Lelu?" Dasu rushed over to them, but was stopped by Sunanomi.

"I'm sorry, but they're gone." I told them, while trying to hold back my tears.

*Several of the next lines are blurred due to water damage. Entry continues at Gushikami Inn.*

"No way! The deal is off!" Dasu yelled as we tried to calm him down.

"Dasu, I'm just as upset as you are. Hell, I feel like going on a rampage myself, but this isn't what Kio would have wanted. We can still salvage our group if we find a few replace.." That was a bad choice of words, as Sunanomi would later admit in his own audio log.

"WHO THE HELL CARES!" Dasu roared. "There's no point if they aren't here. I'm going to go find out what the hell is going on. You twits can do what you want!" Dasu stormed off, despite Sunanomi's protests.

"Seems he had the right idea." Yin said, and he turned to me. "Following you was a waste of time. I should have just stayed in Tokyo. I think you know the reason why."

"What the hell, Yin?" Joshiro said, who had recently woken up. "You know the Black Cats were on the verge of death when that happened!"

"Say what you want, but I would still have a place in Tokyo, if not for you two. I'm done here, goodbye." Yin left, and I felt my heart sink. The remaining members of Red Earth followed suit, until it was just Sunanomi. He turned to me before leaving.

"I'm sorry. I hope you have better luck than we did." Now it was just me and Joshiro.

"A-are you okay?" He asked.

"You should get some rest." I responded. "I need to collect my thoughts." I spent several hours thinking to myself, as well as recording the days events to my journal. After a while, I started talk to myself.

"What I'm I going to do now. Maybe I should just give up on being a hunter."

"I wouldn't say that." A sudden voice from behind made me jump. Sunanomi had returned to the Inn. There was an awkward silence between us, before he spoke up again. "H-how are you holding up?" He asked. I just shrugged in response.

"So, um.. about what happened." Sunanomi bowed to me. "I'm sorry for leaving. I wasn't thinking straight, and I doubt the others were either." He paused for a minute. "You seem like a decent person, and Kio seemed to see something in you. If it's alright with you, I would like to return and try to save our group. If we stick together, we may be able to stay as official hunters."

"It's okay, I'm not upset anymore." I responded with a small sigh. "But what can the three of us do?"

"I already talked to the others. Connor, Xia, and even Dasu agreed to come back. But for now, they want time to pay their respects to the boss and his girl."

"But what about you?" I asked.

"I think I'm okay now," He responded. "You know, those two were going to get married when we became real hunters."

"That's really too bad. They seemed like decent people, which is pretty rare these days."

"They actually saved me a while back. Found me in a pile of scrap metal with only a rifle and some broken armor. I have no memories past that point." Sunanomi had a pained expression on his face. "Yet they still took me in, and helped once my injuries healed. I've been working with them ever since. They were some of the few people I ever trusted."

"You don't trust others easily, do you? Are you sure you can trust me?" I wondered what was making him open up to me. He seemed so reserved.

"I think you're someone I can follow. There's something about you that..." Sunanomi paused again. "No, never mind. We should get to sleep, as we need to move out in the morning." I nodded at this and we headed upstairs to the rooms we rented.

"Amnesiac, huh?" I asked. "Is this the part where you reveal yourself to be a legendary dragon slayer?"

"Don't make me laugh," he responded. "Knowing my luck, I'll have the most boring past you can think of."


	3. A New Companion

Chapter 2 – A new companion?

 **Authors note: Props to anyone who gets what the repair scene is a take off of.**

*Ex-script from the diary of Haruka Rotama, August 4th 2042, South Okinawa*

The next morning, I headed downstairs after getting ready to make the journey to Naha. The rest of our clan was already waiting for me, and like Sunanomi said, Dasu, Xia, and Connor, had come back. The others apologized for leaving, though Dasu noted that he only returned to avenge Kio and Lelu, and find out what exactly they died for. Xia responded to this, by smacking his head. Sunanomi pointed out that to get to Naha, we had to take the north tunnels. We grabbed our belongings, and left the Inn.

Before leaving town, we stopped by the various shops to stock up on medical supplies, ammo, and food. At the weapon shop, Sunanomi talked me into trading in my old police revolver for a 9mm Beretta. That old gun had served me well for the last few months, but as he said, it was time for an upgrade. Sunanomi carried a Dragunov SVD as his primary weapon, and a makeshift pipe shotgun as a backup.

"I wish I could get a better back up weapon," he said, as I payed for my new handgun. "These pipe shotguns are designed to be as cheap as possible. Though most new age guns don't compare to pre-destruction." I caught Joshiro eyeing a katana, but talked him out of buying it since he was more suited to using spears. On the way out, we ran into Yin. He said nothing, but flipped us off. This made me realize just how much resentment he had been bottling up the last few months, and it made me feel even worse. We had to drag Joshiro out of the shop before he could start a fight.

We left town, and headed to Ozato tunnels, which were the only way to get to Naha with out hitching a ride on a fishing boat. The tunnels themselves were dark, but a string of lights laid out by the hunters showed us which tunnel we had to follow. Xia and Connor followed us in the rear, since they weren't fighters. There were no signs of demons yet. We came to a fork, and Sunanomi read the sign that looked like it had recently been posted.

"Warning: The main tunnel has collapsed again. Those who need to get to Naha, will have to use the maintenance passage to the right. Ask the watchman to unlock it for you."

"Well, I don't see any damn watchman," Dasu said.

"Maybe he's by the cave in," Joshiro replied, and we headed to the left passage. After a bit of walking, we found out why we hadn't seen any sign of the guards. A number of Pretas were picking at the remains of hunter.

"Well that's just great," I said. "Any ideas, guys."

"Way ahead of you," Sunanomi answered. I saw him pull out a grenade from his equipment belt.

"Wait, you'll destroy the key!" I said, but he had already pulled the pin. He tossed it at the demons and covered his face. Turns out it wasn't a regular grenade at all. An extremely loud bang and a bright flash left me stunned. I could barely make out the sounds of gunshots, spear strikes, and magic being cast. When my eyes finally cleared, the Pretas were dead, and Sunanomi retrieved the key from what was left of the hunter's corpse.

"What the hell was that?" I asked in an irritated tone.

"Stun grenade, also known as a flash-bang. Sorry I didn't warn you, but I thought you knew." I suppose he was right. Most hunters would have a wide knowledge of weaponry. I decided to drop the issue, as we headed to the maintenance passage. After walking for what seemed like an eternity in the empty tunnel, we finally found the exit, and could see light coming in.

"It's about damn time." Dasu said, as he walked forward. Sensing danger, I quickly pulled him back just as a Tengu tried to attack him.

"Shit, ambush! Quick, get behind me!" Joshiro yelled. A pack of Pretas and several Tengu were blocking the exit. Dasu quickly cast a maragi spell to push them back, and Joshiro leaped at the Pretas. "Sunanomi! Get the Tengu!" He yelled, and Sunanomi blasted the nearest Tengu with his shotgun.

As I started to cast a media spell, my mind suddenly became muddled, and I was unable to finish the cast. I looked over, and saw a Knocker that we somehow missed. It had hit me with the Makajamon spell. Dasu ran over, and chopped me on the head with his hand.

"Get a hold of yourself!" He yelled, and burned the Knocker with another agi cast. "Go help Suna!" To my right, a Tengu was attempting to bite off Sunanomi's arm. I quickly took a shot with my handgun, and knocked the demon away. This allowed Sunanomi to recover, and finish it off with a shotgun blast. As Joshiro finished clearing the Pretas, I cast a media healing spell on my allies.

"You okay, Sunanomi?" Xia asked, as her and Connor walked up to us. "Let me take a look at that."

"I'm fine," He responded and moved his arm around to show her. "Haruka's healing was enough." That made me feel a little better, I'll admit. Dasu started heading toward the exit.

"Well that was fun. Let's get out of here before something else pops up," he said.

"We should stop be Haebaru first. I think we all need a break," Sunanomi responded. We exited the tunnels, and stepped back into the waste land. Agreeing with Sunanomi's suggestion, we headed for the town just north of us.

Haebaru itself, can be a rather socking spectacle for first time travelers. According to some of the villagers, the original Haebaru had been ground zero for one of the nuclear missiles, which atomized the town. They founders of new Haebaru, rebuilt it from the ground up, and it looked like a village out of the old story books my mother used to read to me. The buildings were mostly made of wood, and the town was surround by various plant life. Yes, plant life. A direct contradiction to an endless waste land of brown dust and dead trees.

"It's pretty relaxing, isn't it?" Connor said as we entered the village. "This is one of the few places you can still grow food with out an artificial green house. Apparently the demons don't seem to bother them, either."

Joshiro looked around before he replied. "You should see the Nakano district. It's practically a forest now. Kinda creepy with the rest of the country a dead wasteland, if you ask me."

"Looks like something is going on over there," I said, and pointed. Several older villagers were surrounding an old well. We walked up, and one of them turned to us.

"Oh, hunters? Excuse me, but I'm Torhu, the leader of this village. Normally we welcome travelers, but we have a little problem on our hands at the moment."

"What's the problem?" I responded.

"For the past several hours, we have been hearing what sounds like a girl crying. It's coming from that well. Most of the villagers aren't fighters, so no one is willing to take a look."

"If my husband were alive, this wouldn't be a problem," An older woman said. "A few years ago, a pixie got trapped down there, and he saved her. She actually still lives with us." Just then we heard a sound from the well. It was a low 'nyaaa' sound. This caught Sunanomi's attention, surprisingly.

"What was that?" He asked.

"That's what I've been telling you about. Look, we can't offer you much, but will you please help who ever is down there?" Torhu said.

"What do you want to do, Haruka?" Joshiro asked. We heard the 'nyaaa' sounds again, and Sunanomi spoke up.

"I think we should take a look." Dasu and Connor stared at him in disbelief.

"What the... since when do you stick your nose into other peoples problems?" Dasu said.

"Yeah, you usually don't care much outside getting payed." Connor added.

"Shut up!" He snapped. "Stay up here if you want, but I'm going in." Sunanomi started to descend the rope that the villagers had prepared. I told them to 'knock it off', and we descended after him, while Xia and Connor stayed behind.

"It's just a well. How deep could it be?" Joshiro said, as he climbed in. That question was quickly answered, as we reached the bottom.

"How deep could it be... You had to open you're big mouth!" Dasu said in irritation. We were interrupted by another 'nyaaa'.

"There's that sound again," Sunanomi said. We started to move into the narrow passages. "I wonder if it's what I think it is."

"I really wish we had some flashlights. I can barely see a thing," Joshiro said, as he took the lead with his lighter. Thankfully, the back part of the the passage opened up a bit. Suddenly, we spotted a figure on the ground.

"I-is that a cat?" Joshiro asked. The figure started to rise.

"No, look closer," I responded.

"Just my luck," The figure said as it emerged from the shadows. "First I get trapped down here, and now a bunch of humans show up." Hissing at us, the figure revealed itself to be a Nekomata.

"W-wait!" Sunanomi said. "The villagers sent us here to help you!"

"Hiss, Humans are liars!" The Nekomata replied.

"Stop!" He tried to reason with her, but she lunged at us. Joshiro swung his spear at her, but he missed and the Nekomata started grappling with him.

"A little help here, guys!" He yelled, as he tried to break free. Both Sunanomi and I, had our weapons raised, but we couldn't fire. I don't know what his reasoning was, but for me, it was her eyes. There wasn't any sign of blood lust that you usually get from a beast type. The only thing I saw, was fear. As Joshiro broke free, the Nekomata was hit by a zio spell from Dasu. The Nekomata jolted back, and was stunned for a brief moment.

"What the hell are you idiots doing! Shoot it!" Dasu yelled. The Nekomata recovered from being stunned, and knocked Joshiro and Dasu back with a mazanma spell. Then she turned to Sunanomi, and lunged at him. For a moment, I thought he was going to shoot her, but he swung the pipe shotgun down like a sword, and stuck her shoulder. This knocked her onto her back, and caused the shotgun to break in half. He quickly tossed it aside, and drew his rifle.

"STOP! Just stop! I don't want to hurt you."

"Hiss... Ouch... You jerks," She angrily replied. "D-damn! I lost to humans..."

"We were sent here to help whoever was making those sounds. This doesn't have to end in bloodshed!" Sunanomi tried to get through, but the cat demon didn't respond. The rest of us were to shocked to do anything. Finally, Dasu broke the silence.

"Holy crap! Are you guys seeing this? I think Suna has lost it."

I finally regained my composure, and shouted at him. "Shut the hell up, Dasu!"

"Why are you getting mad at me? Why is Suna being nice to a demon of all things? Hell, he's never this nice period."

"Maybe he likes... cats, I guess?" Joshiro responded.

"Just watch," I said, as I tried to get them to stop bickering.

"We can help you, if you stop fighting us," Sunanomi said. The Nekomata finally started calming down.

"Fine, you win," She responded, and appeared to give up. I sighed with relief, since I didn't want to take her life either.

"Do you have a name?" Sunanomi asked.

"No... I've never had such a thing."

"Well, I'm Sunanomi. Those are my teammates, Haruka, Dasu, and Joshiro." Sunanomi paused for a moment. "Um, you're a Nekomata, yes? May I call you Neko, for now?" I heard Dasu mumble something like "Seriously? That's the best you can come up with?" I never got his thoughts on this, since Dasu didn't keep a journal of his own.

"I guess so," The demon replied. "But Sunanomi... That's a strange name, even for a human."

"Well, I don't think that's my real name," Sunanomi responded. "Big mouth over there, was the one who started calling me that."

"I heard that, Jackass!" Dasu yelled, as he turned back to Sunanomi.

"Nyahaha! You're funny," The demon finally started to relax a little. I was glad to see that this would end with out any more fighting. Sunanomi thought for a bit, before continuing.

"Do you have a home to return to? If not, then why don't you come with us? We're heading to our new place in Naha." Joshiro and Dasu looked at him with expressions of loss.

"What the hell? Are you insane?" They both said, but we ignored them.

"Huh? I'm a demon, you know. I don't think you're bad like the other humans, but... why do you care what happens to me?"

"Who knows," he responded with a shrug. "You can come with us and find out, or part ways at the surface. Your choice." Joshiro and Dasu started whispering to each other.

"Geez, Dasu! He treats demons better than his own kind."

"Hey, this is news to me! I mean, I knew he was weird and a cold heart-ed bastard, but... what the holy hell, man?" The Nekomata walked up to Sunanomi and stopped right in front of him.

"I think... I think I would like that. Is it really okay? Can I really come with you?"

Not missing a chance to add such a cute kitty to our group, I jumped in before the others could protest. "It's alright with me! You should come with us!"

"Nyaa! I'll go!" She said, happily.

"That's a good kitty," Sunanomi said, and started petting the top of her head, and she purred with a happy expression. This made Joshiro extremely jealous.

"I want to pet her too!" He said, and I gave him a rather nasty glare. Suddenly, Neko started rubbing her head on Sunanomi's chest.

"Whoa, whoa there! Not so close!" We all gave him exasperated looks.

"Nyaha, the first humans I found that are nice. This will be interesting."

"You guys are the ones who have to explain this to Connor," Dasu said, who appeared to have given up.

"Oh, I've seen you humans adapt our magic into your weapons. I'll lend you some of mine!" With that, Neko showed Sunanomi how to channel charm magic into his bullets.

"I think it's time we get out of here. Follow us, Neko," I said, as we lead her back to the surface. As we came out of the well, I got a better look at her. She was a little different than the cat demons I had previously encountered. Her fur was lighter, and her hair was a pinkish color. She also wore tattered clothing, which was also unusual since most Nekomata just shamelessly walk around nude. Her tail wasn't split at the end, either.

Anyway, the villagers rewarded us with food, which surprised us. They didn't seem to care that we did all that work for a demon, and we accepted their hospitality. The fresh food was quite delicious, though Neko, Sunanomi, and Dasu, only ate the beef. After filling our stomachs, we left Haebaru, and made our way towards Naha.

It took several hours to reach the city. Thankfully, we didn't encounter too many roaming demons, though we were almost ambushed by a group of angels. Thanks to Neko ratting them out, we were able to get the upper hand on them. I was just glad we made it to the city before sunset.

"Takuya said our new base was just outside the city," Connor said, as he looked around the city limits. "I guess it's that building over there?" He pointed to a two story house that looked rather run down. A sign at the entrance said, 'Private property of Hunter Clan Sabre' and under that was an amended notice 'Under new management'. Having answered that question, I swallowed the bad feelings I was getting, and we entered the building.

"This place... Is a wreck!" Dasu said, as we looked around the main hall.

"Yeah, a real dump. Was Clan Sabre a bunch of lazy pigs?" Xia responded.

"I guess we know why Gara said 'that house' with that stupid grin on his face," said Sunanomi.

"Yeah, and Takuya was trying so hard to not laugh," Connor chimed in. "They must really be laughing their asses off at us, right about now."

"Lousy bastards.." Dasu said, as he started taking a closer look. The state of the building really concerned me. It would clearly need a lot of work.

"Do you think we can still use it?" I asked.

"I don't know," Sunanomi responded. "I'm not sure if we can fix this mess."

"No kidding. Clan Sabre could have left the place in a SOMEWHAT decent state," Joshiro said, as he walked over to where Dasu was.

"Wait! Watch out for that-" Sunanomi's warning came too late, and Joshiro fell through the floor. "Broken floor board... Idiot!" We rushed over to the new hole in the floor.

"Son of a BITCH that hurt!" Joshiro yelled from the basement.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think so," he yelled back. "Wait.. what is this? It's... IT'S A SSSPPPIIIDDDEEERRR!" We heard him run to the other side of the room, "Stairs! I'm getting the hell outta here!" We looked over and saw Joshiro emerge from the basement.

"Well that was fun. OH, we got a basement full of broken bottles and cobwebs. And Dasu, it looks like you were wearing that same pair of socks for weeks. That's disgusting!"

"I don't need a lecture from someone who screams like a girly girl over a spider," he snapped.

"We'll see how you fair when that spider is bigger than you!" Great, we had spider demons in the basement. "I'm going to go check upstairs." The rest of us continued assessing the damage.

"Man, even if we start now, it's going really late before this building is even remotely serviceable." Sunanomi said. I noted the fact that would also be expensive. Neko didn't seem to have a care in the world.

"Suni! I'm tired, can I take a nap?" She asked. Sunanomi turned, and gave her a bewildered look.

"...Suni? Seriously?"

"Ha! You got a nickname," I said, and Xia said that she thought it was cute.

"This is going to be fun," Dasu said with a smirk. I had to agree with him.

"Shut up!" Sunanomi responded, and turned towards the ceiling. "Hey Joshiro, How's the upstairs look?" As if on cue, Joshiro fell through the ceiling, and landed right in front of Sunanomi.

"Where did you get that scar?"

Sunanomi sighed, and handed me a list that he had been writing. "Can you and Xia go get supplies? We need to get started, or we are going to be pulling an all night-er." I nodded my head, and took the list from him.

"But I wanna take a nap with Neko!" I heard Xia say. Seriously, woman?

"Nyaha, that's a good human!" Sunanomi just face palmed at this.

"You know what? Maybe you should stay. Who knows when Dasu will shove a nail through his hand."

"Oy! Screw you guys!" He yelled.

"Ugh, Never mind. I'm going, okay?" Xia and I got left to go buy supplies. While in the city, I noticed that the further towards the center, the better the reconstruction effort was. The area near Takuya's headquarters looked like it was never destroyed in the first place. I also noticed a building with a strange symbol over the door. Another hunter noticed my gaze, and walked over.

"That's Clan Kuzunoha's detective office," he said. "They specialize in gathering information. If you're a hunter too, you will probably end up dealing with them at some point."

"Kuzunoha, huh? That sounds familiar." I said. "Thanks for the tip."

"Well be careful," He responded. "Their leader is really cute, but she's also a total hot head." We departed from the Kuzunoha building, and headed to the shopping district.

This ends my account for the day. Attached is Sunanomi's audio log that goes into the details that I had missed.

*Ex-script from the audio log of Sunanomi, August 4th 2042, Naha.*

As the girls went to go buy supplies, we looked around to figure out where to start. I figured the best thing to do, would be to plug up that hole, and fix any remaining broken boards. Dasu went over to Connor.

"Get the tools."

"What tools?"

"The tools we've been using for the last two years!"

"Oh, those tools."

"Yeah, those tools." Thankfully, they didn't get into another pissing contest, and we began to unpack the over sized backpack that Connor had brought. I will never know how he manages to lug that thing around all day. Anyway, the girls returned, and we began to work on repairing the floor. After a while, we got most of the floor fixed, except for the hole that Joshiro made. Haruka and Xia came back from another shopping trip, and brought in a large storage crate. Joshiro and Dasu were standing in the middle, taking a break. I sat on the far right side of the room, and leaned against the wall.

"I want this to go on the right," Haruka said, indicating that she wanted the new crate to go where I was.

Dasu, who wasn't paying attention, looked up. "Supply crate on the right, let me see." He looked over to HIS right. "Right."

Joshiro, who was standing opposite to Dasu, interrupted him. "Wait a minute. Haruka said, the crate goes on the right." Joshiro pointed to his own right.

Dasu gave an irritated sigh, and raised his fist out in front of him.

"See that?"

"Yeah, it's a fist."

Dasu swung it down on Joshiro's head. "RIGHT OR LEFT," he yelled at Joshiro, who didn't respond. "Ignorant, eh? Fine, I'll explain so even you can understand it. When I say go, we both point to the right. GO!" Both pointed to their own right again.

Dasu called over Connor, who was resting on the north side. "Hey, porcupine! point to the right for this idiot." Connor responded by pointing to his right, and Dasu hit both of them. All three of them didn't notice that they were wrong, and Haruka already told them where she wanted it.

"You're all wrong. It goes over here... Never mind, I'll do it myself." As I moved the crate into position, the others started to work on the hole in the floor.

"Get me a board!" Dasu said to Joshiro.

"Get me a board!" Joshiro passed to Connor.

"Get me a-" Connor tried to pass it on me, but Dasu Yelled at him.

"GIVE IT TO ME!" As Dasu walked towards them, he got too close to the edge, and fell through, making the hole even larger.

"What are you doing down there?" Joshiro said.

"COME'ER!" Dasu roared from the basement.

"I think he wants you," Joshiro said to Connor.

"BOTH OF YOU!" The two sighed, and headed downstairs.

"What happened?" I could here Joshiro say.

"NOTHIN'" And I heard the distinct sound of someone getting punched.

"What are you getting so upset over?" Connor said? "You only fell fourteen feet!"

"Was that all it was? Oh well, I'm sorry, guys." Another punch. "I'LL MURDER YA!"

"What the hell?" I said, and turned towards Haruka. "Guess I'd better go break it up."

"For crying out loud," She said, and did a face palm.

*Audio feed was cut due to numerous expletives. Entry continues after midnight.*

It was 3 in the morning before we finally cleaned the place up enough that it could be considered livable. The floor was completely repaired, most of the debris was cleared, some new carpets and a few pieces of furniture were brought in, and Neko cleared out that damn spider demon from the basement. I sure as hell wasn't going to go down there. We still needed to plug up the hole in the second floor, but for the time being, we were done.

"Man, I'm tired!" Joshiro said. "I'm think I could pass out at anytime." Dasu rolled his eyes at him.

"I love how we did most of the work, yet the girls are all tired out." Yeah, even I know that was a dumb thing to say, smart guy. I could see the Haruka's face become instantly pissed.

"I'm getting really tired of that mouth of yours!" She roared. "Kio may have put up with it, but I won't. If you have a problem with that, then leave!" Surprisingly, Dasu backed off.

"Tch, I'm going to bed." Dasu stormed off, and I turned to Connor.

"Holy crap! Did we really see that?" Seeing Dasu get successfully told off was a rare spectacle. Usually the only two that would get away with that, were Kio and Lelu.

"Yeah, that was awesome," Connor replied. "I think I'm starting to see what Kio saw in her."

"Yeah, this is quite an interesting girl we came across." I couldn't help but to smirk a bit. "But perhaps things may work out for us after all."

Haruka turned to us. Now that her anger had subsided, she looked embarrassed. "Haha... thanks for the vote of confidence, I guess. Sorry about the shouting. Lost my temper again."

"Well just remind us never to get on your bad side." I responded, and Connor sat down at the desk. I don't know what possessed him to want to try to get our registration finished at this time of the night. I walked over and sat down next to him.

"Alright, give me some of those. You aren't doing that alone," I said. Connor looked at me like my head had exploded.

"Wait, seriously? You're going to help? YOU!" I felt like smacking him, but we really needed to get started. We both began filling out the forms, when Connor spoke up again.

"Wait, do you guys think we should change our name? I mean, now that Kio is gone, I feel like we shouldn't just take his Legacy from him." I guess this is true. I don't think Dasu would like it if we just continued using his name when someone who wasn't original member was taking over leadership.

"Okay, then what do we call ourselves?" I asked.

Connor thought for a minute, then suddenly shouted. "Oh, I know! Orange Tigers! RAWR!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP, DOWN THERE!" I heard Dasu yell from the hole in the ceiling.

"No.. no, we aren't doing that" Haruka said, and I had to agree with her.

"Got any Ideas, Haruka? Names aren't something I'm good at." I said. We all thought for a few minutes before she responded.

"How about... the White Wings? I bet that isn't taken." It wasn't the greatest name, but it had a nice ring, and as she said, probably wasn't taken.

"I'm okay with that. Connor?"

"Works for me," he responded. White Wings it is. At that time, Xia had finished sorting the medical supplies.

"I'm turning in? You coming, Haruka?"

"Yeah, just a second," she responded.

"Oh, like I said before, I'll be coordinating our jobs," Connor said. "I'll try to get some work for us in the next few days." Haruka nodded in response.

"I think I'm going to pass out for real this time," Joshiro said, and starting walking to the stairs. "Wait a minute, how are we doing the room assignments?"

"Well, Xia is the only girl, so that's who I'm rooming with," Haruka said.

"Dibs on Sunanomi's room!" Connor quickly said. I assumed he only did this to avoid the predicament Joshiro was now in.

"Great, that leaves me with Dasu. Thanks, guys.." He walked upstairs, and was out of sight.

"Nyaa, I'm tired." Neko said, who was leaning on me."

"So what about her?" Haruka asked.

"Nyaaa, I'm sleeping in Suni's room!"

I gently stroked her ears before saying, "Like hell you are! You can sleep with Haruka."

"Nyuuu, awww." Though she didn't move, and ended up falling asleep with her head in my lap while I worked on the paper work. This would end up being a very long night.

This ends my audio log for the 4th of August 2042.


End file.
